Updated 01:48 | Published 00:23
HÄSSELBY BEACH. Three people were injured in the powerful explosion.
Residents testify that large parts of the apartment building have been destroyed.
– It slammed loudly and shook. I immediately thought it was a bomb, says a neighbor.
Outside the apartment buildings in Hässelby strand in western Stockholm, a large number of people have gathered at the police cordon.
The smell of something similar to gunpowder hangs in the air and the flashing blue lights of the police cars are reflected against the house walls.
Shortly after 9 p.m., something detonated inside one of the residential buildings. Parts of the facade are destroyed and a gate at the back is completely blown out. The front door is on the lawn.
– We were one subway station away when I heard the noise. Then we went straight here. It was so loud, says a young person.
Several of the windows in the house are destroyed. Some curtains blow slowly in the wind.
Three people were injured in the explosion. A neighbor testifies that the blast must have been so powerful that several doors in the stairwell were blown in.
Another, who lives about a hundred meters from the affected site, says she felt the ground shake.
– It just vibrated throughout the ground. I thought I was going to fall out of my chair, she says.
Other residents stand shivering in the cold and view the devastation. A father and his son stand near the cordons on the short side of the house.
– Of course it feels uncomfortable when it happens so close. I was sitting on the balcony when I heard the bang, says the father.
“You don’t touch relatives”
According to Aftonbladet’s information, the police suspect that the explosion may be aimed at relatives of a person who is in conflict with a criminal network.
A group of teenagers sound upset as they talk about the incident.
– You don’t touch relatives. It’s one thing when they aim it at the criminals, but it’s gone too far when it comes to the family, says a 19-year-old man.
Along the footpath that stretches behind the house comes a train of people. Several of them are shivering, wrapped in orange blankets. Others go hand in hand.
The municipality opened an adjacent school that the evacuees could go to, while waiting to be able to return home to their homes again.
An elderly man, also wrapped in an orange blanket, looks worried.
– What should I do now? I don’t have insurance at home, he says to a man in a red vest who works for the municipality.
Details: Gloves found
According to Aftonbladet’s informant, the witnesses must have seen two people with their hoods pulled up who fled the scene after an object was placed outside an apartment door.
According to information to Aftonbladet, the police have found gloves and other objects in a place near the house where it exploded. The police are now investigating whether the objects can be linked to the perpetrators behind the detonation.
Sometimes you can also hear the police helicopter hovering over the area. No one has been arrested so far.